Method and device for withdrawing biological samples

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and device for withdrawing biological samples. The device has a receptacle which can receive one or several covers for sample containers, another receptacle which can receive one or several sample containers, and a mechanism. Said mechanism joins the covers and containers together during a working cycle in which the biological sample is withdrawn either through the cover or the sample container to a test capsule.

Description

DESCRIPTION1. Field of the InventionVery different requirements are made with respect to the withdrawal and handling of biological specimens. These relate to quantity, purity, reliability and in several cases, in fact, the speed at which they are taken. New, rapid analytical methods make necessary the simplification of sampling, in order to achieve a decrease in the total analysis cost. High requirements are placed also on the logistics of such a process, due to the withdrawal of large numbers of samplesLarge numbers of biological analyses are of importance in medicine, research, breeding [cultivation], quality-control and environmental technology. In all these fields, the following parameters determine the requirements that are placed on a sampling system.1) The number of samples to be taken.2) The degree of centralizing of the analyses, i.e., whether samples taken at several points in large quantity are processed at one site, where the sorting process for the analytical process mu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The object of the invention is to eliminate the disadvantages that have become clear in the description of the prior art. A device and a method will be made available, which make possible a withdrawal of biological samples in large numbers of units, while simultaneously extensively excluding a falsification due to intentional misuse or mixing up the samples by human error, by means of extensively automating the sample withdrawal itself, as well as coupling the recording of the sample data directly by means of the device. The object of the invention is to make available for the first time a method and the devices for carrying it out, which make possible the development of logistics for processing huge numbers of samples.

Problems solved by technology

These devices require a considerable degree of training.

Consequently, all biopsy devices according to the prior art are constructed for applications other than the method according to the invention and do not fulfill the requirements that are placed on it.

This method does not represent a satisfactory solution, since in the case of large livestock, much time is required due to the many operating steps.

It is shown in practice that if the person who withdraws the samples is not directly familiar with specimen analysis or has not been specially trained, irregularities may occur with respect to the quantity of the sample, impurities of the sample or even test capsules without content or with falsified content.

However, these devices can migrate into the body of the animal over the course of its life, so that they can no longer be found during slaughtering and can end up in sausage.

Presently there is no system, which is able to efficiently conduct the withdrawing and clear labeling of the millions of samples and their centralized processing.

The quantities of the removed tissue are not constant, so that each step of the further processing of the samples requires manual intervention, which can lead to errors.

Since a presymptomatic procedure often seems troublesome, there is the danger that deliberately false samples will be taken, if the result is not directly utilized.

A farmer in fact could fear loss due to the ordered destruction of an entire harvest.

In the case of cultivation, the plants must be characterized and one must be able to accurately trace the sample back to its origin, but these methods require an enormous organizational expenditure.

Since these methods are still usually conducted manually at the present time, cultivation efforts require considerable expenditure of personnel.

This is the primary cost factor in the cultivation of new varieties.

Another problem, which has been caused by modern biotechnology, is the control or monitoring of seeds and agricultural products for genetic manipulations.

On the technical side, such a control also requires, in addition to the extremely rapid and inexpensive analysis, a high degree of logistics relative to withdrawing samples and recording.

In fact, e.g., cattle are registered, but there is no simultaneous removal of a tissue sample, in order to prepare a genetic fingerprint therefrom, whereby the false security of registration could be very much overestimated.

In particular, the development of increasingly more costfavorable DNA analysis opens up applications, which were previously not of interest economically for reasons of cost.

There is no method and there is no device, which can fulfill the requirements that these new applications of analysis of biological samples require.

According to the prior art, the withdrawal of millions of biological samples is uneconomical.

Still fewer of the devices available today can remove such quantities of samples with the avoidance of contamination.

The withdrawal of large numbers of samples at the present time cannot be conducted with the exclusion of mixing up samples due to human error.

In addition, the prior art permits the recording and processing of all data relevant to huge numbers of samples and their processing only with considerable personnel expenditure.

Unfortunately it is a fact that almost any member of the meat chain (viewed from the individual handler to the consumer) can, under certain conditions, have an interest in bypassing the existing control or monitoring mechanisms.

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